Boeing, machinists face off over union at South Carolina plant
Source: Reuters
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE | Mon Feb 13, 2017 | 7:02am EST
Boeing, machinists face off over union at South Carolina plant
By Alwyn Scott and Harriet McLeod | NEW YORK/NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.
Boeing Co faces its first union vote on Wednesday at its aircraft factory in South Carolina, a high-profile test for organized labor in the nation's most strongly anti-union state.
The world's largest planemaker is running a hardball campaign against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which is trying to organize about 3,000 workers at one of two plants where Boeing makes 787 Dreamliners. The other, in Washington state, has long been unionized by the IAM.
"It would be a major, major win for the machinists if they got this," said Arthur Schwartz, an independent consultant who worked in labor relations at General Motors Co for two decades and does not represent either side.
Opposition is strong in South Carolina, which is one of 28 states that does not require workers to join a union, and has the lowest proportion of union workers, at 1.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. New York is the highest with 23.6 percent.
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